Cross-posting is good

[mike420 at ziplip.com]

David Rush wrote:

> 
> You know I think that this thread has so far set a comp.lang.* record for
> civilitiy in the face of a massively cross-posted language comparison
> thread. I was even wondering if it was going to die a quiet death, too.
> 

When cross-posting, people try to be more responsible, avoiding
making incorrect claims that will not be tolerated by the larger
reader community (like Python is very slow, C is inherently 
insecure, Lispers are stupid, etc.) That's why there are usually 
more balanced and less bigoted opinions expressed in such threads.
 
Also, I think cross-posting benefits creative people. E.g. 
I noticed that the recent thread "Python syntax in Lisp and 
Scheme" tought many Pythonistas and Haskellers about macros,
while many Lispers learned about "yield" and that the
usual examples of macros like UNWIND-PROTECT and its 
friend WITH-OPEN-FILE do not have to be macros at all,
if your fingers can manage to type the magic 6 letters.
(OK, the syntax is better without those magic letters, but
it's the only difference. If you want to demostrate the real
power of macros, show code introspection.)

If you only program from 9 to 5, and it's 2 months till your 
retirement, and you think you don't need such exposure to new 
ideas from other language groups, it's best you killfile 
all crossposted articles, or whatever, just don't whine.

OTOH, such idea exposure could have prevented such big 
mistakes like C#, Mozart/Oz, XML++, ARC and others.